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themadcaplaughs

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Posts posted by themadcaplaughs

  1. On 3/1/2023 at 10:39 AM, AxlRoseCDII said:

     

    I'm sure it's not that strict though. Someone mentioned Frank wanted to play WLR in 2017, and also in LA 2017 Frank asked to play OTGM. My guess is Axl calls the final shots, but is pretty nonchalant and relaxed with whatever Slash, Duff, and occasionally Frank want to do (withholding new music), as he's basically retired. I wouldn't be surprised if Slash and Duff really have shaped the setlist more than Axl actively has.

    This would be my guess. Axl probably goes along with what other bandmates want unless he has some serious misgiving or lack or motivation to perform a particular song. When I saw them in Atlanta in 2011 (possibly the best GN'R show I've ever seen in all honesty), before they played "Better", Axl said something like (paraphrasing): "I have a button on my mic so I can talk to Tommy and ask him what song he wants to play next. He has the magical power to always choose the song I'd rather not play, but we're gonna play "Better" to make Tommy happy even though might kill me." 

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  2. 21 hours ago, ChrisMaciel said:

    If i'm not wrong, it was published while ago that Izzy made a deal with Merck about receiving money for showing in some shows of 2006 tour without Axl knowking it.

    It was one of those Del James interview Axl gave around the time Chinese Democracy was released:

     

    Would you consider a reunion with the 'Appetite' or 'Illusions' lineups?
    No.

    Why not?
    A lot more reasons than I'll get into here now. Different reasons for each version and each individual. The Izzy bit was fun -- and also fun because we didn't have to rely on him in any way, which is how he prefers things and works better for everyone. That said, you never knew if Izzy would be there or not or if he'd remember the song or decide to leave early. It didn't cause any problems, because we were doing our show regardless and didn't have to depend on anything, but it did open everyone's eyes a bit and blow minds.

    He called, asked to come out and negotiated a deal with management that it's probably best that none of us knew about or the fun would've seemed a bit more like being used or taken advantage of spoiling the moment. As it was, we had a great time.

    It'd be highly doubtful for us to have more than one of the alumni up with us at any given time. I suppose Duff could play guitar on something somewhere, but there's zero possibility of me having anything to do with Slash other than by ambush, and that wouldn't be pretty. He wrote that whole bit about not having his guitar in Vegas, I'd assume, to save face. I was told by both the Hard Rock and different Guns industry people who had come out to be supportive of the new band and were a bit surprised to see him there, especially guitar in hand, but just assumed it was a surprise for the show and we were in on the arrangement.

    Steven [Adler] brings assorted ambulance-chasing attorneys and the nightmare of his mother. One gig, or even a couple songs, could mean years of behind-the-scenes legal aftermath.

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  3. ^^^ 

    I am not saying you are incorrect that Ron's statements were factually true, but if you do not see how going from the fan saying "the music video for Better leaked" to "fuck Axl's band" seems a little mean-spirited, then I do not know what to say. Bummer the dude wanted to talk with Ron about the band he was in at the time. If it bugged Ron so much, maybe he could have just...I don't know....not answered. I have a sneaking suspicion (nothing I can prove of course) that he probably half-expected this  to be made public just to make a point. 

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  4. ...and people were genuinely surprised and in disbelief that Ron was done at the end of the 2014 run. You can see he already had one foot out the door as far back as 2012. Don't see why people are taking Ron's side on his pissy messages. Facebook is a public platform and Ron is a public figure. He has to always assume someone could do that. The fan was not egging him on either. He just mentioned the video leaked and Ron nose dived. I would not be be surprised if he did this knowing it would get back to the band's management in order to make a statement. That seemed to be his MO throughout the last few years of his run. I say all of this as a Ron fan and someone who genuinely loves his additions to the album. I even admire he stuck with the band long enough to let them complete touring, but I always found his backhanded way of talking about how much he hated the band kind of annoying. To me, this seems just as bad, if not worse, than Slash ragging on Axl for the duration of 1995/96. 

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  5. Wonder why all of a sudden he seems so bitter. In other interviews he's done, he talked about how cool it was that he even got some songwriting credit on a Guns N' Roses song released almost a decade after he left the band. 

    I know his comments of "take Axl to court" is likely just a figure of speech, but before anyone runs with it, I imagine everyone signs off their songwriting credits when they join the band; essentially allowing Axl to divvy it as he sees fair. Apparently this was a point of contention when Buckethead left, as he had God knows how many riffs/ideas he came up with during his time in the band that belong to GN'R and which he cannot use on his own. I used to work in copyright law (been a hot minute), but I imagine this was how Duff/Slash got credited on "Absurd" and "Hard Skool" which were written by an entirely different band. 

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  6. On 11/7/2022 at 11:03 AM, Sonic Reducer said:

    He saw a brother in him because they both dressed awfully during that period. Remember when Axl went on Kimmel wearing 4 kilograms of bling? I do.

    When I watched the Kimmel interview, I remember noticing two things: 1. the bling you mentioned and 2. how nervous and out of his element Axl seemed in a more "general" interview that was not specifically about music (like the Trunk interviews). Axl warmed up, but I think they relied on the "let's pull out items to discuss that Axl's management pre-approved" more than any talk show guest I have ever seen. To be fair though, multiple people texted me after seeing it that night to say he seemed really funny/relatable/charming, so I guess the appearance served its purpose. 

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  7. On 11/5/2022 at 8:27 AM, James Bond said:

    I want to say the "less bloated" thing started around 2011. By then the the whole "fat Axl" thing in the media was in full swing, and after a rough start in Rio that year Axl's vocals had our full attention.

    So every time someone came back from a show it was almost a defense of Axl. It was always like "well I was at the show last night and his vocals were getting better and he looked great. He's less bloated and cracking jokes. He was in a great mood" and that sort of thing.

    I think initially it was meant seriously but by 2014 had become the forum meme it is now.

    It was this 100%. It was usually meant as a "he was not as bad he was in [Rock in Rio 2011 or Bridge School], but took on a life of its own. 

  8. 16 hours ago, Gordon Comstock said:

    I was happy when DJ was announced as the new guitar player in 2009(?). He was good when I saw Sixx AM on Cruefest, The Heroin Diaries and Saints Of LA were solid for what they were, Life Is Beautiful was a #1 rock hit... there was definitely potential for DJ to bring some interesting songs to GNR - he can write some catchy stuff, and someone like Bumblefoot would've elevated it.

    But eventually he became more focused on posing, swag, etc. and somehow managed to play sloppier as time went on.

     

     

    Yea, I imagine his demos sounded similar to Beautiful Creatures.

    These are my thoughts exactly. I had some vague familiarity with Sixx A.M. when the band announced DJ joined the band (had never heard Beautiful Creatures). He seemed like a cool dude, and it was clear from the few interviews and chats he did around that time that he was a huge Guns N' Roses fan and seemed stoked to be in the band. It seemed like it could be a good fit; particularly mixing Richard and Ron with someone like DJ who seemed more at home with 1980s rock music. I loved Robin, and was sad to see him go, but was optimistic. 

    In 2009/2010, DJ still had a lot of work to do, but it seemed like he had a decent grasp on the material and, as I imagined, seemed more at ease with the Appetite and Illusion material than Robin had been when he started playing live with the band in 2001/2002. From 2011 onwards however, it seemed like his playing actually got noticeably worse, and he was more interested in being the guy in the spotlight next to Axl and promoting his own endeavors. All that being said, he seemed like a nice enough guy and - to his credit - seemed genuinely interested in having an actual dialogue with fans. 

    Per the wrestler (and as others have speculated on this thread), Axl had been a big fan of Beautiful Creatures in the early 2000s, was impressed with DJ's songwriting in Beautiful Creatures and Sixx A.M., and the fact that he played guitar was more of an "oh, that's even better" type thing. I say all this with the caveat that I do not think DJ is an objectively "bad" guitarist. He falls back on some generic and tired "shred" cliches, but can play the guitar. Based on interviews with him, I would imagine he sees himself as more of a songwriter/visionary with the guitar being a tool to help him achieve that, as opposed to people like Slash, Robin, Richard, or Bumblefoot who clearly consider themselves "guitarists". I just think it was an issue of not being a great fit for GN'R. Like that old interview said about Paul Tobias in the day, being "good" doesn't cut it for a band like Guns n' Roses. He needed to be great. 

    And of course, I say all of this was (another) caveat that we never really did get to hear any contributions from DJ to the band. Many people made the same complaints about Robin Finck and Buckethead, but after hearing Chinese Democracy, at least admitted they added some cool elements to that material. Maybe DJ would have really surprised us if he'd played on GN'R releases.  

  9. 10 hours ago, Bitchisback said:

    I found a couple interesting quotes from Tommy which makes me wonder how much he actually respected Ashba.  First was this quote about Ashba splitting 

     

    "Asked if he knew that Ashba was going to leave GUNS N' ROSES before he made the announcement, Stinson laughed and said: "You know, he called me up on the phone and told me that he was gonna quit, you know, and this that and the other thing. I just kinda got to thinking… It was funny that he made such a big deal about it, because there wasn't really anything going on [with the pre-reunion incarnation of GUNS N' ROSES]. He seemed like it was kind of inevitable that there was going to be a reunion happening, so I think he… I don't know if he [laughs] tried to get in front of the curve to, you know, drum up some extra fucking press for himself. I don't really know what the deal was, but I thought it odd. I thought it an odd time to make a big stink about quitting, you know?"

     

    And then this one where he doesn't mention anybody by name but the previous two quotes make me wonder if it's about Ashba lol 

     

    "The bassist told Eric Blair (via Alternative Nation): "I wasn't the musical director for Guns N' Roses. What I became in the early stages of the new Guns N' Roses, was I would try and organize a bit.

    "You've got six guys, Axl too, I would just do my best to try and just keep us all on the same page. We had some different guitar players who were alternately either good friends of mine, or an absolute opposite of a friend, and a pain in the ass, who we dealt with, and I had to deal with."

     

    Funny to see Tommy dunk on DJ like that! I do not think he dislikes DJ though. I've seen them interact on social media a few times. When I saw Tommy at a meet and greet at the beginning of the year before one of the shows, he mentioned DJ was one of the people from the GN'R camp he still talks to occasionally (also mentioned Frank, Richard, and Del James). Even if he thinks Robin was a better guitar player, I remember some interview where Tommy said something to the effect that Axl and DJ seemed to get on so well personally that it made things a lot easier. 

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  10. Looks like a lot of people really twisting Brian Johnson's words. He specifically says he heard Axl did a great job and holds no ill-will. Brian been in the band since 1980 (I believe) with no break. No matter who filled the spot and how good he was, it was going to sting Brian to see the band go on without him. Also, it seems like his biggest issue was the fact that the band, through the press releases at the time, made it seem as if the band had permanently moved on without Brian. 

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  11. On 10/21/2022 at 12:21 PM, axlslash said:

    I'm not even sure the Bridge School shows were the lowpoint.

    Axl Rose's yellow jacket story is the stuff of roadie legend - Consequence

    I would say Bridge School was worse. For all the cringe in the RIR '11 show (and there was plenty to be had), it has some decent performances sprinkled throughout, and the reintroduction of "Estranged" was one of those "goosebumps on my arms" moments. I still remember Bumblefoot throwing his arms in the air when it started like "this is actually happening". 

    Really no redeeming qualities of the Bridge School show (or at least the night everyone remembers). It was completely pointless having the full band on stage for the whole show as Dizzy and Chris really did not have a lot to do. Other than "Better", which had the cool arrangement, the other songs just sounded like someone trying to replicate the exact same arrangements on acoustic guitars, which sounded really boring. Other lineups of the band would have made different arrangements suiting the nature of playing an acoustic gig (something the Appetite era band did well every time). Even ignoring the disappointment of Axl's vocal performance (and I will take him at his word he was sick), it was clear he had not prepared in any way, shape, or form. 

    Ron and DJ Ashba hanging out with the children during the songs was the only cool moment. It was cool that Axl didn't call the whole thing off, but no denying it was a train wreck. 

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  12. As others have said, it sounds like a lot of the tension came from the fact that Axl foisted him on the band, and continued to do so once everyone else disapproved. The final straw seems to have been Axl sneaking Paul's parts on "Sympathy for the Devil". Also, it seems he might have had a better shot at fitting in if he had been deferential to the existing band members, but by their accounts, he also had an air of "I'm here and you can't make me leave". 

    It seems the fact that he had no prior experience recording music professionally or touring played a factor as well. Even Tommy Stinson (without specifically naming Paul) did some interview where he said something along the lines of "some of the guys making the record hadn't even made a record before, but I learned to begrudgingly accept that they had good ideas as well." 

    Honestly, at this stage, I'd really be interested in an in-depth Paul interview/profile more than just about anyone else. He really was the guy who, in some form or another, saw everything go down from the early 1980s through at least 2002 (if not later). I imagine he'd have some amazing insights. 

    Also, my "controversial" Gn'R has always been that I actually really dig Paul's "response" parts to Slash's solo on SftD. 

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  13. 2 minutes ago, JimiRose said:

    to be fair, he works in customer service, i highly doubt they would have access to upcoming releases they could accidentally let slip, but A star for effort and ingenuity. 

    I would call it rock bottom, but another man's trash is another man's treasure. Few things in life are certain, but one of the certainties is that the customer support employees have no knowledge or say on pending releases. They probably shared this message with their group as a "wtf is this" moment of working in customer service. 

     

    EDIT: That is not a slam on the poster who did it, but just the depths GN'R makes its fans plunder. 

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  14. 38 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

    I don't know, Tommy's demos have been added recently for sure, but people say that Ashba's demos have been there for a while. I guess that's what happened with Tommy, because he said that he was trying to get them back from GN'R. Ashba probably registered his when he left the band.

    Axl didn't do anything with Ashba's demos, so why would Slash and Duff?

    When I did a meet and greet with Tommy before a show in January, he specifically said he'd been asking the band for some of the songs back since his tenure in the band ended. He wasn't upset, jusat said that like everything else in GN'R land, it took forever for anything to happen. He specifically said he considered "Goin' Down" a "good, but far from great" song. 

    Would DJ have been able to register them when he left the band? I figured, like Tommy, he would have to get the copyrights back. My assumption would be that any of the members of "nuguns" had to sign all their material over to Guns N' Roses. Again, speaking as a former IP lawyer, that would be my guess. Explains why Axl was able to re-configure the songwriters on "Abursd" and "Silkworms". I believe we've heard over the years that pissed off Buckethead after he left when he realized he couldn't use any of the riffs he brought to the band. 

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  15. Reading over this, not sure why people think "The General" might not be the final title. IIRC, Brain mentioned it was a "joke" title Brain and his buddy made from the fact that they were eating General Tso's chicken when they were messing around with loops and stumbled upon a loop that inspired the song. That being said, in the same interview, I believe Brain said Axl really liked the name "The General" and then seemed a little deflated after learning the somewhat trivial origin of the name, but kept calling it that. Also add that there is an element of "meta" to the name (Tommy's nickname at one point was "The General") and the fact that GN'R social media have called it that before, and that Baz specifically referred to it by that name all lead to me think that could be the final title. 

    I will not fall into the trap of judging the song's epicness by its title or short description we received from Baz (or an ear bleeding cell phone recording of part of the song). Bear in mind that: (i) prior to the song being released, many assumed "Prostitute" was going to be one of the most soul-crushingly heavy songs ever recorded (I love the song, but would not describe it as a rocker) and (ii) Baz once referred to the riff in "Sorry" as doom metal. 

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